Physical and Mechanical Properties of Waste Sawdust Polymer Composite for Marine Application

In this research, wood polymer composite (WPC) were produced by using the combination of waste sawdust (Cengal and mixed sawdust), unsaturated polyester resin and a catalyst as the curing agent. The WPCs were produced at four levels of sawdust loading (5 wt% - 20 wt %) with resin and 3% of catalyst added to study the mechanical and physical proeprties. Micro structural analyses were done by scanning electron microscopy and the result showed that the sawdust filler were evenly dispersed in the resin matrix. The mechanical and physical properties of the composites are higher than unfilled resin. The optimum ratios were obtained for sawdust composite at 10 wt% where it showed the best performance than others.